This invention relates to luminaire lighting, and more particularly, a lenticular lens for high intensity flood or area lighting with precise beam control. The design of luminaires for high intensity lighting presents certain difficult problems in obtaining good luminance without undesirable bright spots. Typically, luminaires for flood or area lighting use shaped specular reflectors which redirect incident light flux from an intense light source to form a desired beam. Conventional reflector shapes are parabolic, for a narrow beam; elliptical, hyperbolic and spherical, for a wide beam; or a combination of sections of the four shapes. The function of the reflector is to distribute the light both functionally and efficiently. The difficulty is that an observer sees two segments of light: the source itself and a reflected image of the light source. Although these segments represent only a small fraction of the total luminaire face, they produce high source brightness or direct glare. While this can be minimized by the use of diffusion devices, such as frosting or pebbling, this often results in loss of beam control. Also, such anti-glare devices tend to spread the light beyond desired beam angles thereby reducing the efficiency of the luminaire.
Yet another disadvantage of beam control by the use of reflectors is that blemishes or defects in the reflector or the face may cause shadows, bright spots, or other non-uniform areas in the beam. Moreover, at some angles the light source itself may be obstructed by the reflector or fixture housing.
The present invention is intended to overcome the foregoing difficulties in a high intensity luminaire for flood or area lumination. The present invention is particularly suited for use with high intensity light sources such as the so-called halogen light sources.